A Brief History of Famous Automakers (Great Read)

Volkswagen In 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was commissioned to build a small, inexpensive car at the request of Adolph Hitler. His masterpiece -- a beetle-shaped sedan that was called a Volkswagen (German for "people's car") debuted two years later. The war delayed production of the vehicle until 1949, however, and during the '50s the car became known as the VW Beetle, later earning the distinction of the best-selling car of all time. Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen has since gone on to manufacture more contemporary cars -- though the world's fondness for the Beetle, or "Bug," still runs strong -- strong enough to justify a 1998 New Beetle debut that was initially a huge hit in North America. Though New Beetle sales have leveled off in the 21st century, consumer interest in the company's more practical (but still fun-to-drive) cars -- specifically the Jetta and Passat -- has steadily increased.

Aston MartinFounders Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford started Aston Martin in 1914 in a small West London workshop. Originally the marque was known chiefly in racing circles, eventually extending itself to gran touring vehicles, mostly under the DB nomenclature. Aston Martin has never been about quantity as much as quality; in its 88 years of existence, it has built little over 16,000 vehicles, each hand-crafted of the finest materials. Not as widely known in popular culture as Ferraris, Aston Martins are mostly associated with British entities such as royal families and James Bond; the DB5 starred in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger. For 2002, the flagship Vanquish rounds out the lineup with its breath-taking looks and plentiful horsepower. After a series of bankruptcies and exchanges of ownership throughout its history, Aston Martin was acquired in 1987 by Ford Motor Company and is now a part of Ford's Premier Auto Group.

Audi Audi Automobile Works entered the German car-manufacturing business in 1910 and remained independent until the Great Depression. Because Audi's founder, August Horch, had left a 10-year-old company bearing his own name, he chose a Latin form of his name -- Audi -- for his new company. Early vehicles included the 1921 14/50 model, which sported an aluminum cylinder block and four-wheel brakes, and the 1923 Type M, a six-cylinder vehicle that stayed in production until 1928. Audi joined with three other auto manufacturers in 1932 to form Auto Union. Audi, the only surviving nameplate from that union, is now a luxury division of Volkswagen that specializes in all-wheel-drive automobiles. The company's popularity in the U.S. has steadily increased since the release of the 1996 A4, and since then, Audi has expanded the breadth of its American lineup, adding more performance-oriented models and the allroad quattro, an all-terrain wagon.

BMW Munich-based Bavarian Motor Works established itself in the early 1910s as an aircraft and motorcycle-engine manufacturer, but it wasn't until 1928 that production began on the first BMW car, the Dixi. BMW's best-known pre-World War II vehicle was the two-seat Type 328 roadster with its cutaway doors, while postwar BMWs, such as the 507, went on to win several racing, rallying and hillclimb victories. In 1974, BMW of North America was established and the yuppies of the '70s and '80s, who coveted both sports and luxury cars, became loyal Bimmer owners. As of the early 21st century, BMW has become the standard for performance and luxury in most of the "over $30,000" segments. Wild popularity among moneyed American buyers has prompted the company to expand the lineup to include several roadsters and the X5 SUV (with an X3 and X7 to follow).

Cadillac Henry Martyn Leland, a former gunmaker and engineer for Ford and Oldsmobile, founded Cadillac in 1902. Specializing in precise craftsmanship and using standardized parts, Leland built a four-cylinder Cadillac 30 in 1909 and made his company successful enough that it was purchased by General Motors soon after. In 1915, Cadillac's powerful, smooth and reliable straight-eight engines set the standard for large ultra-luxury cars. A few decades later, pricey V12 and V16 engines were introduced, but fared poorly during the Depression years. The V8s, however, remained popular. Despite some periods of uncertainty, revisions and technical innovations over the years have ensured Cadillac's popularity and reputation as a luxury marque to this day.

Chevrolet In 1911, after William C. Durant had been ousted from General Motors, he joined forces with Swiss-born racecar driver Louis Chevrolet to found the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. After the introduction of the first and only vehicle designed by Chevrolet, the Six Type C Classic, Durant gained complete control of the company. Early Chevys touted spacious interiors and reasonable prices. By 1915, Durant had made Chevrolet extremely profitable and had bought enough shares in GM that he was once again in control of it. Chevrolet quickly became another division of GM, earning honors as GM's largest volume division by the mid-1920s -- and has kept that rank ever since.

Ferrari Enzo Ferrari worked at Alfa Romeo through most of the 1920s before deciding to build his own racing and road cars. After years of modifying and building racing cars using Fiat and Alfa Romeo components, Ferrari set up shop in Maranello, Italy, and produced his own car in 1948, the Tipo ("Type") 166. As would be the Ferrari tradition for many years, its name was derived from the displacement of a single cylinder in cubic centimeters. As it was a V12, total displacement equaled just 2 liters. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, such greats as the 250 GT, 250 GTO and 275 GTB were produced, clothed in beautiful bodies that were penned by Pininfarina, the design house that Ferrari still uses to this day. Other memorable models followed throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, such as the 246 Dino, 365 GTB Daytona, 512BB, 308 GTS (the Magnum P.I. TV show car), Testarossa, 355 and 550 Maranello. Various roof styles were available on some of the models, including Berlinetta (coupe) and Spider (convertible). Other models of note include the F40, produced in 1988 to celebrate Ferrari's 40 years of building automobiles. Coincidentally, that was also the year Enzo died. Presently, Fiat owns Ferrari, and incredible sports cars, such as the 360 Modena, still roll out of Maranello.

FordBack in 1903, Henry Ford dreamed of building a car for the great multitude, and that's precisely what he did. Perhaps the best-known Ford to date is the immortal Model T of 1908-1927, which was bought by 16.5 million Americans during its 19-year life and was affordable enough for Ford's own factory workers to purchase. Based in Dearborn, Mich., the Ford Motor Company went international in 1911 and was known as one of the Big Three American automakers, along with GM and Chrysler. After buying Lincoln in 1920, offering a low-priced V8 engine in 1932, introducing Mercury in 1939 and having a brief disaster with the medium-priced Edsel in the late 1950s, Ford's expansion leveled out. Today, Ford sells both cars and trucks and is made up of three divisions: Ford, Lincoln-Mercury and the Premier Auto Group.

HondaHonda Motor Company had its beginnings in 1947 as a Japanese motorcycle manufacturer established by Soichiro Honda. It wasn't until 1962 that the first Honda car -- a two-seat convertible -- was built, but the company's major automotive breakthrough came in 1972 with the introduction of the 1973 Civic. Four years later, the Civic had already sold a million units, and the company rolled out a slightly larger car that would become wildly popular -- the Accord. Known for its reliability and with most being built in North America, Honda currently offers seven models, including a gas/electric hybrid called the Insight.

Lamborghini Italian Ferruccio Lamborghini made his fortune building farm tractors and air conditioning units in the 1950s and early 1960s. As a car enthusiast, he drove the best sports cars of the day, including Ferraris. Somewhat disappointed with the Ferraris, he vowed to build a better car and introduced the first Lamborghini, the 350GT, in 1964. The car's name came from its engine size, a 3.5-liter four-cam V12. Then came the 400GT, which was produced until 1968. But it was the stunning mid-engined Miura, produced from 1966 to 1972, that catapulted Lamborghini into worldwide acclaim. Though Lamborghini made a number of other models, such as the four-seat Espada and various V8 sports cars, such as the Urraco, it was the mid-engined supercars that identified the marque. Cars like the wild Countach of the 1970s and 1980s and the Diablo of the 1990s were instantly recognizable as Lamborghinis, with their sinister styling by Marcello Gandini promising equally outlandish performance. Through the years, ownership of Lamborghini changed hands, with Chrysler taking the reins in 1987 and Volkswagen/Audi taking over in 1998. Though some may question the current German/Italian marriage, the product of this merger, the 200-mph Murcielago (the Diablo's successor), leaves no doubt as to its benefit.

LincolnThe Lincoln Motor Car company was named after its founder's boyhood hero: the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. Established in 1920 by Henry Martyn Leland, the company quickly fell into financial distress and was bought by Ford in 1922. Its rapid acceleration made the Lincoln car a favorite with both gangsters and police; even President Calvin Coolidge purchased one in 1924. Lincolns are still viewed as prestigious luxury cars known for their powerful engines, smooth rides and spacious interiors.

Mercedes-BenzTwo automotive manufacturers, Daimler and Benz (who both claimed to have invented the first automobile), joined forces in 1926, with each company bringing with it 40 years of motorcar building experience. Mercedes (named after a diplomat's daughter) had been the passenger vehicle line of the Daimler Motor Company from Bad Cannstatt, Germany. After the Daimler-Benz merger, the company renamed all of its products Mercedes-Benz. The marque has been a symbol of high-quality German engineering since its inception and has produced a number of classics such as the 500K of the 1930s and the 300SL Gullwing of the 1950s. In 1998, Daimler-Benz merged again, this time with America's Chrysler Corporation. The new company was renamed DaimlerChrysler, but the vehicle brands have remained separate.

Porsche Dr. Ferdinand Porsche founded his automotive company in Austria in 1948, introducing two-seat sports cars based on the Volkswagen Beetle, before moving the company to Stuttgart, Germany, two years later. In the early '50s, Porsche began sending cars to the United States — the most popular import was the Type 356. The years that followed brought the famous 911, the unloved 914 and 924, the finely balanced 944/968 and the V8-powered 928. The Boxster, a mid-engined roadster, was introduced in 1997 and is currently offered alongside the legendary 911 series. With a celebrated reputation for quality and performance, the company has no problem getting top dollar for its distinctive sports cars.

Rolls-RoyceA partnership between Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce, Rolls-Royce Ltd was officially formed in 1906 — the first car had a 10-horsepower two-cylinder engine and a sharply angled Grecian-style radiator that Rolls cars have worn proudly ever since. Larger, more powerful engines soon followed, as this was to be a luxury brand. The cars were sold in chassis form, with various coach-builders supplying bodies to satisfy customers' desires. The company had a short-lived, small-scale manufacturing operation in Springfield, Mass., from 1921 to 1931; otherwise, all Rolls vehicles have been hand-built in England since the beginning (the current Crewe facility opened in 1938). The cars developed a following with nobility the world over, and the various iterations of the Phantom (1925-1992) were the most prestigious Rolls offerings. Roll-Royce Ltd officially went bankrupt in 1970 due to problems with an engine contract, but a new public company, Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd, was created in 1971. The company was then purchased by the engineering group Vickers Ltd in 1980. Vickers decided to sell in 1998 and arranged for Rolls-Royce to be acquired by BMW; however, in a surprise move, Volkswagen outbid BMW. The two German automakers arranged for VW to relinquish control of the Rolls-Royce name on January 1, 2003, with VW keeping Bentley and the Crewe plant. As a result, BMW is building a new facility in Goodwood, England, to accommodate the distinguished British manufacturer.

Toyota Toyota, a variation of Toyoda (the name of the founding family), evolved from a small textile company into Japan's largest automaker. Becoming interested in the auto industry in 1933, the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Company launched both trucks and cars a few years later. In 1937, the auto-manufacturing division separated from the rest of the company and was named the Toyota Motor Company. Though Japanese-production vehicles were built during World War II, it wasn't until the late 1950s that Toyota cars came to U.S. shores. Today, Toyota sells an impressively broad range of trucks, cars and SUVs.